Evidence of deteriorating semen quality in the United Kingdom: Birth cohort study in 577 men in Scotland over 11 years

British Medical Journal

Volumn 312, Issue 7029, 1996, Pages 467-471

  Irvine, Stewart ^a   Cawood, Elizabeth ^a   Richardson, David ^a   MacDonald, Eileen ^a   Aitken, John ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ADULT; ARTICLE; CONTROLLED STUDY; DONOR; HUMAN; HUMAN EXPERIMENT; MALE; MALE FERTILITY; NORMAL HUMAN; PRIORITY JOURNAL; RETROSPECTIVE STUDY; SPERM; SPERMATOZOON COUNT; SPERMATOZOON DENSITY; SPERMATOZOON MOTILITY; UNITED KINGDOM;

EID: 0030057755     PISSN: 09598146     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1136/bmj.312.7029.467     Document Type: Article

References (32)

1. Carlsen E, Giwercman A, Keiding N, Skakkebæk NE. Evidence for decreasing quality of semen during past 50 years. BMJ 1992;305:609-13.
2. Nelson CMK, Bunge RG. Semen analysis: evidence for changing parameters of male fertility potential. Fertil Steril 1974;25:503-7.
3. James WH. Secular trend in reported sperm counts. Andrologia 1980;12: 381-8.
4. Leto S, Frensilli FJ. Changing parameters of donor semen. Fertil Steril 1981;36:766-70.
5. Bostofte E, Serup J, Rebbe H. Has the fertility of Danish men declined through the years in terms of semen quality? A comparison of semen qualities between 1952 and 1972. International Journal of Fertility 1983;28: 91-5.
6. Menkveld R, Van Zyl JA, Kotze TJW, Joubert G. Possible changes in male fertility over a 15-year period. Arch Androl 1986;17:143-4.
7. Osser S, Liedholm P, Ranstam J. Depressed semen quality: a study over two decades. Arch Androl 1984;12:113-6.
8. Jackson MB, John Radcliffe Hospital Cryptorchidism Research Group. The epidemiology of cryptorchidism. Horm Res 1988;30:153-6.
9. Giwercman A, Skatekebæk N. The human testis - an organ at risk? Int J Androl 1992;15:373-5.
10. An increasing incidence of cryptorchidism and hypospadias. Lancet 1985;i:1311.
11. Boyle P, Kaye SN, Robertson AG. Changes in testicular cancer in Scotland. European Journal of Cancer and Clinical Oncology 1987;23:827-30.
12. Østerlind A. Diverging trends in incidence and mortality of testicular cancer in Denmark. Br J Cancer 1986;53:501-5.
13. Sharpe RM, Skakkebæk NE. Are oestrogens involved in falling sperm counts and disorders of the male reproductive tract? Lancet 1993;341:1392-5.
14. Auger J, Kunstmann JM, Czyglik F, Jouannet P. Decline in semen quality among fertile men in Paris during the past 20 years. N Engl J Med 1995;332:281-5.
15. Bromwich P, Cohen J, Stewart I, Walker A. Decline in sperm counts: an artefact of changed reference range of "normal"? BMJ 1994;309:19-22.
16. Sherins RJ. Are semen quality and male fertility changing ? N Engl J Med 1995;332:327-8.
17. Danish Environmental Protection Agency, Male reproductive Health and environmental chemicals with oestrogenic effect. Copenhagen: Ministry of Environment and Energy, 1990.
18. Institute for Environment and Health. IEH assessment on environmental oestrogenic consequences to human health and wildlife. Leicester: MRC Institute for Environment and Health, 1995.
19. Barratt CLR, Matson PL, Holt WV. British Andrology Society guidelines for the screening of semen donors for donor insemination. Hum Reprod 1993;8:1521-3.
20. Irvine DS, Cawood EHH, Richardson DW, MacDonald E, Aitken RJ. A survey of semen donation; phase II - the view of the donors. Hum Reprod 1995;10:2752-3.
21. Aitken RJ, Best FSM, Richardson DW, Djahanbakch O, Lees MM. The correlates of fertilizing ability in normal fertile men. Fertil Steril 1982;38: 68-76.
22. World Health Organisation. Laboratory manual for the examination of human semen and semen-cervical mucus interaction. Singapore: Press Concern, 1980.
23. World Health Organisation. WHO laboratory manual for the examination of human semen and semen-cervical mucus interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
24. World Health Organisation. WHO laboratory manual for the examination of human semen and sperm-cervical mucus interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
25. Johnson L. Spermatogenesis and ageing in the human. J Androl 1986;7: 331-54.
26. Mortimer D, Templeton AA, Lenton EA, Coleman RA. Influence of abstinence and ejaculation-to-analysis delay on semen analysis parameters of suspected infertile men. Arch Androl 1982;8:251-6.
27. MacLeod J, Gold RZ. The male actor in fertility and infertility. II. Spermatozoon counts in 1000 men of known fertility and in 1000 cases of infertile marriage. J Urol 1951;66:436-49.
28. MacLeod J, Wang Y. Male fertility potential in terms of semen quality: a review of the past, a study of the present. Fertil Steril 1979;31:103-16.
29. Irvine DS, Aitken RJ. Seminal fluid analysis and sperm function testing. Endocrinol Metab Clin North Am 1994;23:725-48.
30. Aitken RJ, Irvine DS, Wu FC. Prospective analysis of sperm-oocyte fusion and reactive oxygen species generation as criteria for the diagnosis of infertility. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1991;164:542-51.
31. Templeton A, Fraser C, Thompson B. The epidemiology of infertility in Aberdeen. BMJ 1990;301:148-52.
32. Sharpe RM, Fisher JS, Millar MM, Joblling S, Sumpter JF. Gestational exposure of rats to xenoestrogens results in reduced testicular size and sperm production. Environ Health Perspect 1995;103:2-9.